B r o k e n W o r l d
by yume girl 91
Summary: An experiment. A test to see how the emptiness of an Arrancar and a human heart interacted. Rukia didn't know Urahara's selfish motives, drawn as she was by something far deeper than the task imposed on her. UlquiRuki
1. Be my enemy or not

The cuffs lay like a second skin. Tight. Unmovable. But not with permanence. Just the barest spark, flickering like an ember in dying coal, remained of his spirit pressure.

Only time would regain what had been sealed.

The green eyes closed against the pulsing light of written Kido. Floor to ceiling, every type of Bakudo imaginable had been laced into the very framework of the windowless room. Underground perhaps? The air contained a stale, recycled quality to it that was similar to the windless atmosphere of Hueco Mundo.

_He had told that great fool he could do it alone._

Assistance was as unnecessary as undesired.

The task was simple. Scouting for the boy whom now was regarded as nothing but trash to the viridian streaked face of the Arrancar.

But, he hadn't been heeded.

A trap had awaited them, one that defined the term given by Kisuke Urahara as _'know your enemy'_.

_Observation_. Simply put. They wished to observe their enemy- imprisoned, powerless and wait to see if they could gather information about his Lord. _The fools_, Ulquiorra thought apathetically without a trace of hostility. He would never divulge a single sentence that could be detrimental to their plans.

Lord Aizen's.

He was an instrument merely, to see himself as otherwise went against all logic.

Solely a method for the destruction to encompass the entire world.

(*)*)*)

"He hasn't moved in two days." The shopkeeper's hushed voice made the Shinigami beside him turn sharply. Violet-blue eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously. "Why haven't you disposed of it yet? Keeping a captured enemy as a pet goes beyond even sane levels for you, Urahara."

The slat on the door drew back, the fair-haired man quirked a twisted smile. "Why, Ms. Kuchiki. How could you ever doubt me?"

Rukia blew air from her lips, her eyes rolling discreetly to the ceiling at the man's act. Really. Some things never changed. For one being the aforesaid man's attempts to study the world around him by gaining subjects like herself in the past. It wasn't pleasant being a so-called _lab rat_. So, she could in part sympathize in some strange way with the Arrancar.

Be her enemy or not.

So, she scowled and crossed her arms over her thin chest. Being in a Gigai for the change of the seasons in the living world was relatively unpleasant as she was faintly cold. Chilled. Though she wore a sweater over the summer dress.

"Spit it out then. What is it you want?" she didn't like having to lie about her reasons for venturing out so late, particularly to Ichigo. If the man's call hadn't been so-well secretive! Rukia would never let it slip how much his message disturbed her. Making her believe something was genuinely wrong yet when coming...

"I want you to watch over my little project." he said it so plainly that at first she was sure she hadn't heard correctly. Urahara smiled a little in the dimness of the narrow corridor. From a room two doors down, the faint sound of Kido chanting could be heard in a deep male voice. His assistant Tessai, hard at work reinforcing the barrier around their prisoner.

"Ms. Kuchiki..must I repeat myself?" a note of teasing colored his low tone.

She had to shift a little closer to hear.

"I am asking you to guard my _pet_- as you call him. Get him to talk, see if you can find out anything about Aizen. You can do that much at least."

She stared at him, her confidence in her prior belief that her hearing was going bad from Ichigo's yelling, proved nearly null. _Urahara had said...but no! That was crazy-! If Soul Society found out-? _ "You're mad." Rukia denounced flatly. "Why would I assist you for anything-?"

"Oh, I don't know..." the man tilted his face to the ceiling as if reading words only he could see. "..'cause I'm such a sexy irresistible shopkeeper?"

Rukia wanted to hit him then. "Get somebody else to do your dirty work. I'll never cover for you." The venom was back in her voice. Yet he was unaffected by it. The smile merely returning as a curve across his mouth, his cane tapping the floor thoughtfully.

"I see. So, that is your answer to my kind offer."

_What was he talking about-?_ "What offer?" her eyes flashed, her advance threatening despite her diminutive stature.

"..oh, just if you do not help me with this one thing, I will never assist Kurosaki-kun _ever again_."

Rukia stiffened. _He wouldn't_. "You can't-"

"-do this?" More of a smirk, the heave of broad shoulders covered by the green haori. "Please, Ms. Kuchiki. I am simply a dealer, shopkeeper some might say, with an inclination to experimentation."

"..you're crazy." she breathed in some awe though less respect for the man. There was a difference between regard and the previous inspired emotion of awe. He was a masterful manipulator. She could see how he had once been the Captain of the Twelfth Company.

"That I am." Urahara inclined his head gravely. "Do you agree then?"

"What good will it do?" Rukia muttered more to herself, feeling the lightest chill dance along the fine hairs of her arms. Her glance went to the door, behind which resided the humanoid-like Arrancar. Only a thin sliding door of thin wood sealed by Kido spells ensured _it_ remained there. The man was beyond crazy if he thought he could gain anything by keeping it alive.

The creature was a Hollow evolved past rudimentary intelligence. There was no pity nor humanity remaining within its cold cyan gaze.

She shivered then berated herself silently for it. _She was a Kuchiki- and Kuchikis never showed fear! _ Taking a breath to quell the warnings going off inside her, she said in a firmer voice than she truly felt. "I..accept." The ramifications were such that she didn't want to contemplate at the moment.

Urahara clapped his hands lightly, "excellent choice, Ms. Kuchiki. I knew you'd see the light."

Her fists tightened. _He was just using her_...she kept her face impassive, unfeeling, knowing better than to let her seething emotions show. "I still say you're insane."

"Watch and see..." Urahara smiled mysteriously, his gaze resting on the door, his thoughts focused solely upon the occupant inside. "There is always...after all a method to my madness."

-TBC...

Disclaimer: don't own Bleach.

AN: had the idea for a while. Au during the first invasion- when Ulquiorra and Yammy enter the living world and very AU after this. Thanks for reading :)

No flames-haters-stupid comments!

Reviews appreciated and loved :)


	2. First words

The Arrancar didn't move. _But, then that was to be somewhat expected_, Rukia thought to herself. Kisuke hovered at her back, urging her in with a light nudge and a half-seen smile. _Bastard_. It had taken every ounce of feeling she had for Ichigo, to not report to Soul Society that one of the Arrancar hadn't gone back to Hueco Mundo.

_Unlawful. A crime_. Rukia had broken the law before and hadn't been particularly keen on doing it again on so little grounds as assisting Kisuke Urahara. _The man annoyed her- with his little smiles and covert_-

"Start by introducing yourself, Ms Kuchiki." The shopkeeper hissed.

Her lip curled, a snappish retort forming on her tongue. _What? Like how do you do? I'm your enemy_- but when she turned around to deliver it, the door had slid shut. Kisuke's grinning face disappearing on the other side. _Damn him_. Rukia reflexively opened and closed her fists, calming her breathing down. It was hard to focus on the task at hand, considering all she wanted to do was break down the door and thrash the shopkeeper for doing this to her.

_But I...agreed_. Little by little, her ire melted away. She looked, took a good long look at her charge. He sat against one wall, the white uniform adorned his thin frame, a plainer outfit of human wear had been left folded near enough so he could reach it. She saw now the reiatsu-suppressing handcuffs encasing slim paper-white wrists crossed atop upraised knees.

His eyes were closed now. He was so still she might've assumed he had fallen asleep that way. _But, Hollows didn't need sleep, ravenous foul creatures they were_.

"..Why do you stare..trash?"

She started. _He had spoken!_ Quickly her eyebrows snapped together, _not very pleasantly either_. "I'm not staring. Merely curious as to how a creature like you takes being captured by the enemy?"

His eyes remained closed. Long black fringe of lashes casting dim shadow along his high, thin cheekbones. No response.

Rukia had expected as much. Folding her arms across her midriff, she went forward, pretending to be interested as her eyes roved from the slightly bowed head to sandaled foot of the Arrancar. "You've been defeated- rendered a prisoner of the enemy camp..." she paused deliberately, noting the unflinching mask he wore.

It was as if he had completely shut himself off. _Probably thinking up ways to get out and murder Urahara in his bed_, she thought then somehow that made her smile the tiniest bit. "Surely...you must realize how pathetic that makes you seem in the eyes of-"

"Do not speak of something you do not understand, trash." A slit of green like deep soft summer grass then widening to reveal full orbs of vivid, intense emerald stared back. "I am superior to _you_ in _every_ way."

Her jaw tightened, her fist threatened to fly. "My name isn't _trash_, Arrancar." _How dare he speak to her like that! She- a Kuchiki!_ Her pride reared up, her lips curling into a full smirk. "Oh? Arrancar, tell me, what don't I understand?"

The green eyes seemed lidless, unblinking. Tilted up staring into her face. Apathetic was their look. Uninterested yet he continued to stare. Rukia stood her ground, daring to stand a few feet away yet the inequality in their positions with him lower and she higher seemed to not affect him the way she had hoped. So, she attempted a different tactic.

"All I see, is an enemy of mine. Powerless- abandoned by his allies...now wouldn't you say that you're the _trash_ here, Arrancar?"

He moved- then he didn't. Just the slightest shift, the narrowest slit of the deep, dark green eyes. Rukia found herself strangely fascinated by the color. _Green...they were...pretty._ She corrected her thoughts._ For a monster_.

"Why do you stare, trash?"

"Because I don't know how long I'm going to be able to put up with your _cute_ sense of humor, Arrancar without..." she smirked, finally feeling as though she were in control. "Running you through with my Zanpaku-to like you deserve."

"..Ah, but that would defeat the purpose of Urahara Kisuke. You will not execute me as your pathetic heart desires. Pitiful though your abilities are, there is little doubt to yourself as being a threat to _my superiority_." he affirmed with indifference.

_Why you-!_ She wanted to hit him badly now. "You're going to-"

"O-O-H, Ms. Kuchiki!" The Kido seals slid apart- _in a hurry_. Kisuke popped his head in, "Could you_ please_ come here a moment?"

She restrained from snapping out; _wasn't this her task?_ "Coming." Then, smiled her sweetest most saccharine smile of falseness. "I look forward to our coming chats, Arrancar."

The green eyes closed without another word, satisfied, she had gotten the last word in, Rukia walked out with her head held high to see what it was the shopkeeper had thought up to demand _now_. _She still hadn't learned his name_.

-TBC

AN: due to problems in RL, this chapter was shorter than desired. I wanted to post it however in case we lose net service. If that happens, I will do my best to do sporadic updates on some of my fics. Thanks for reading

No flames!

Reviews loved! :)


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